---

Native American Languages

Types of Degrees Native American Languages Majors Are Earning

Those studying Native American Languages may pursue degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Certificate	20
Associate’s Degree	4
Bachelor’s Degree	2
Master’s Degree	32

What Native American Languages Majors Need to Know

Studies in Native American Languages develop a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that Native American Languages graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

Coursework in Native American Languages emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• English Language — Importance 4.4 / 5; level 5.1 / 7.
• Education and Training — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Foreign Language — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 4.4 / 7.
• Customer and Personal Service — Importance 3.1 / 5; level 3.7 / 7.
• Computers and Electronics — Importance 3.0 / 5; level 3.7 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

Skills built by a Native American Languages program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Speaking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Writing — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 4.2 / 7.
• Instructing — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 3.8 / 7.

Abilities

Innate abilities most relevant to Native American Languages careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Speech Clarity — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Oral Expression — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Written Expression — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, Native American Languages graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Training and Teaching Others	4.3 / 7
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.1 / 7
Thinking Creatively	4.0 / 7
Working with Computers	4.0 / 7
Getting Information	4.0 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	4.0 / 7
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others	3.9 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	3.9 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	3.9 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	3.9 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by Native American Languages professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	✓
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Blackboard software	Data base user interface and query software	—
Moodle	Computer based training software	—
Email software	Electronic mail software	—
Microsoft Outlook	Electronic mail software	—
Adobe Illustrator	Graphics or photo imaging software	—
Computer assisted language learning CALL software	Foreign language software	—
Adobe Photoshop	Graphics or photo imaging software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for Native American Languages graduates include:

• Teacher
• Bilingual Teacher
• Language Teacher
• Language Instructor
• French Teacher
• Language Arts Teacher
• ESL Instructor (English as a Second Language Instructor)
• Spanish Teacher
• Hebrew Teacher
• Chinese Language Professor
• University Faculty Member
• Greek Professor
• Foreign Language Instructor
• Arabic Language Instructor
• Languages Professor

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to Native American Languages graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Bachelor’s degree	45.2%
Doctoral degree	28.2%
Master’s degree	15.1%
Post-master’s certificate	3.8%
Post-baccalaureate certificate	2.9%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	2.6%
High school diploma or equivalent	2.0%
Postsecondary certificate	0.3%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Who Is Earning a Degree in Native American Languages?

Gender Distribution

This field skews predominantly female, with women earning 75.9% of Native American Languages degrees.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	44	75.9%
Men	14	24.1%

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the national level, the racial-ethnic distribution of Native American Languages graduates is as follows:

Race / Ethnicity	Graduates	Share
White	3	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	1	1.7%
American Indian / Alaska Native	43	74.1%
Two or More Races	10	17.2%
Race Unknown	1	1.7%

^{See minority definition below.}

Online Native American Languages Programs

Distance learning is reported by IPEDS for Native American Languages. The table below shows how many graduates earned at least some of their coursework online (Distance-Ed Available) versus completing the entire program online (Distance-Ed Only).

Award Level	Distance-Ed Available	Distance-Ed Only
Bachelor’s	1	0
Master’s	1	0

^{Distance-Ed Only = degrees completed entirely online; Distance-Ed Available = degrees including at least some online coursework. Source: IPEDS Completions by Distance Education status.}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	CIP Code
Foreign Languages Linguistics	16
African Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.02
American Sign Language	16.16
Armenian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.18
Celtic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.13
Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.12
East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.03
Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other	16.99
FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS	16.00
Germanic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.05
Iranian/Persian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	16.08
Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services	16.01

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.